You are here

Blog Archive (April 2017)

Originally published: Global Gazette Phyllis Willis is being remembered today as a kind, caring environmentalist and animal rights activist. Willis, 74, died Wednesday night at her home in Fertile. Willis was a champion of clean air and water causes as well as animal rights; pigs and chickens roamed freely at Niman Ranch, her family's land with 140 acres of native prairie... more

Originally published: Counter Punch World Environment Day (WED) occurs on 5 June every year. Promoted by the United Nations, its aim is to encourage global awareness and action for the protection of the environment. Since its inauguration in 1974, WED has helped bring attention to various issues, including global warming, sustainable consumption and wildlife crime.... more

Originally published: Huffington Post The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has gone where the U.S. government dares not tread – testing thousands of foods commonly consumed by its citizens for residues of a controversial herbicide linked to cancer. And the findings are less than appetizing. The agency said it found the pesticide known as glyphosate, the key ingredient in... more

Originally published: Science Magazine Earlier this week, in the middle of Easter night in Olmeneta, Italy, an unknown person attacked the Monsanto Research Center with several “bottle bombs” or Molotov cocktails, small improvised explosive devices. The 16 April assault, apparently a protest against research on genetically modified organisms (GMO), did not injure anyone but... more

Originally published: Facing South As legislation to limit North Carolina residents' ability to collect damages in civil lawsuits against factory farms makes its way through the General Assembly, a new mapping initiative offers a clearer picture of how many people could be affected by the controversial proposal and where they live. This Environmental Working Group map shows... more

Originally published: Independent Dow Chemical is pushing the Trump administration to scrap the findings of federal scientists who point to a family of widely used pesticides as harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species. Lawyers representing Dow, whose chief executive also heads a White House manufacturing working group, and two other makers of... more

Originally published: EcoWatch Boulder County, Colorado will completely phase out genetically modified (GMO) corn and sugar beets, and neonicotinoid insecticides on county-owned land. According to the Daily Camera, commissioners voted 2-1 last week to approve the latest version of a transition plan that bans the cultivation of GMO corn by the end of 2019 and GMO sugar beets by the... more

Originally published: Forbes For the growing number of farmers using hydroponic and aquaponic techniques to grow produce, April 19 is a big day. That's when, at a meeting in Denver, the USDA's National Organic Standard Board (NOSB) will decide whether such methods can continue to be eligible for the USDA-organic label. The outcome will determine whether these... more

Originally published: The Guardian A US congressman and environmental group have filed the first lawsuit targeting Donald Trump’s plan to build a 30ft wall on the US-Mexico border. The suit, brought by Congressman Raúl M Grijalva of Arizona and the Center for Biological Diversity in the US district court for Arizona, seeks to require the government to undertake a... more

Originally published: Sustainable Pulse Today the five international judges for the Monsanto Tribunal presented their legal opinion, which include key conclusions, both on the conduct of Monsanto and on the need for important changes to international laws governing multinational corporations. The judges conclude that Monsanto has engaged in practices that have impinged on the... more

Originally published: The Hill The Trump administration is considering closing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) office in Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The office, designated as Region 5, has responsibility for local and state matters in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Were the office closed, its responsibilities would be... more

Originally published: Truthout The people of New Bedford, Massachusetts, have always been tough. When New Bedford was the whaling capital of the world, seven men would hop into a 25-foot rowboat to chase -- and harpoon up close -- furious 50-foot whales weighing 85 tons. After petroleum replaced whale oil around 1900, New Bedford workers then kept 70 textile mills... more

Originally published: EcoWatch The DC Circuit Court ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday to close a loophole that has allowed hazardous substances released into the environment by concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to go unreported. "We applaud the DC Circuit Court's clear decision to enforce this vital environmental safeguard to protect... more